Polished Sword Part III LU's story

Honor, Lu and Jaster looked into the diminishing camp fire. Lu looked at the other two faces and began:

“I'll go next.” He didn't want Honor to tell her story. He definitely wanted to know what happened... yet a part of him didn't want to know. Just in case it wasn't what he wanted to hear. Maybe if his story was long enough, Jaster would be tired and the fire would be dead and Honor wouldn't have to attempt an explanation. Lu was certain that the policeman inside of him would be able to see the lies too easily and then it would never be the same between him and Honor. Anyway, if he could delay it, Honor could be spared a potentially embarraing situation. After all, he owed her... she'd saved his life.

“I grew up just east of the Deer Mountains in a village called the Village of Does. My father bred and trained champion hunting hounds for the nobles in towns and cities to the south. He even had some patrons as far south as Lyndeen.”

“Lyna's Deeden?” Jaster said.

“That's the old name,” Lu said.

“Ah”

“As I was saying...where was I? Well, when I was about 8 my father began to teach me the business. He loved me and had high hopes for me, but I knew that his highest hopes were for my older brother Finn. Finn was, and is, a strong and energetic man. My dad could tell that he was smart too. He devised a new training program that resulted in more obedient dogs. It also shortened the training period by three weeks.

“That is why my dad took it so hard when Finn joined the Queen's army. You see, despite Finn's work, our business was declining. Several breeders in the south had begun aggressively courting our best clients. Revenues were thinning and I think that Finn knew that there was no future there. But he also knew that he'd do well in the army. Like I said, he was strong and smart; he would excell and be a capable captain. Maybe even a field marshall one day.

After Finn left, business got even worse and Dad started drinking. We had less money and he spent what little we had on wine and rumbullion.”

“What's that?” Honor asked.

“It's a hard liquor made from molasses.” Jaster said.

“Anyway,” Lu continued, “Dad stumbled home one day and my mother lost it. She yelled and wept and he cowered in the corner. I had always worshiped my dad like was Dan the Triumphant. But I saw him in the corner and he looked up at me and I think he felt the shame and disappointment... the pity.” Lu paused and threw a pebble into the fire.

“He just...” Lu paused again. “He just... exploded. But not at me, at my mother. He shoved her hard into the wall. She screamed and then he was throwing a chair at me. I tried to duck but it hit me hard and gave me this scar by my ear.” Lu pointed to a line by his left ear.

Honor was looking at Lu and Lu noticed. He liked the concern in her eyes. She's looking at me. Is that pity? Those are very clear eyes. Lu thought.

“I guess it's harder to see with my beard getting longer.”

“You should shave.” Honor said. Lu almost said, “I may need help with that,” but he held his tongue.

“You look almost like me. A real mountain man!” Jaster said, patting Lu on the shoulder. “You were like a fortress when you first got here, but now you're a cute marmoset.”

Lu groaned. Honor laughed. “but his beard is probably not as soft as a marmoset's is.”

“You should check,” Jaster said. Honor stroked his beard... “Hmm. Pretty soft, but not as nice as an Arctic Marmoset. Maybe the desert variety.”

lu rolled his eyes. “Maybe I can be forgiven for not being perfectly groomed for the last (month? Season? Week?). But...”

Jaster interrupted him, “What happened next? Were you okay?”

“Oh.. well...My mom picked me up and ran to the servants' quarters where we spent the night on some of their alfalfa mattresses, with old Dirk at the door.”

“The next day my dad was as sorry as can be and he promised that it would never happen again. And it didn't. For a month anyway. And then he was in a rage again, directing his fists to my mom. I usually ran away...” Lu looked at honor again. Does she think me a coward?

“Then he was so sorry again the next day. He promised it would never happen again. But the next time was only 3 weeks or so away. Each episode came closer and closer together until he was drunk and violent almost every night. We avoided him whenever we could.

One night though, we got inhis way. I forget why we were even in the main house, but we were and we got in his way. He grabbed mom and pinned her down and...” Lu's voice got heavy and he coughed.

“I ran down the lane and wept by the mail post at the end of our estate. I was so distracted that I didn't hear the horse's hooves on the gravel until they were very close to me. I looked up just as Finn, in full battle uniform said, 'Lu, what's going on?'

“He was a fearsome sight. He had a brass breast plate, a red cape and crescent shield. His face was much stronger than I remembered it. He had a long wooden sword with obsidian shardes lined in a row down the side. He also had a steel javelin at his side.

'I've heard that things have changed around here since I left.' he said.

“I was about to respond when there was a crash and a scream from the house. Finn drew his javelin. His teeth were clenched and his eyes were furious. He began marching quickly to the house, but I ran ahead of him and put my hand on his wrist, bringing the javelin down.”

“Move it, Lu,” he said.
“Let me do it, I replied.” Lu paused and stared at the fire. He picked up a few stray pieces of bark and threw them into the fire. Honor's face was ashen and she stared at him. Jasters hands were together, his gaze in the fire.

“He gave me his javelin without a word. We marched up and threw open the door. Father had mother by the forearm and was twisting it back.

Finn said, “Father, stop.” He looked at us and let mother go. Then he... I still can't believe he did this, he slumped down to the floor and began sobbing. He said, 'just do it quickly son.' it took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. I looked at the javelin in my hand. It's like I'd forgotten I was holding it. But I realized then that I had been clenching it tightly, holding it high in front of me, like this.” Lu held up the branch he'd been picking at. Then he threw it causually into the fire and said,

“I couldn't do it. He was so pathetic but I still loved him. It was so strange though. Mom was looking at me, scared to death, Finn was looking at me like he was deciding if I was strong enough. I found out later that they were both hoping I wouldn't kill him. Mom told me later that she was worried about what would happen to my soul, my character, who I was if I killed my own father. Finn didn't want me to do it because he, like me, still loved my father, although I don't know that he wouldn't have killed him if he'd had the javelin.”

“So I'm glad that I found another way...”

“What did you do?” honor asked.

“We put him in the dog run.”
“What?” honor said. Jaster laughed. Lu smiled.
“He was acting like a badly trained dog, so we treated him like one.” Lu said.
“So you made him live with the dogs?” honor said.
“Wait, wait,” Jaster said, “I think I know what you did. You and Finn had been taught by your father how to train the dogs, right?”

“Right. Father had an excellent and well designed system for creating perfectly obedient and well trained dogs..”
“So you trained your father?” Jaster slapped his knee and laughed.

“Exactly. After 6 weeks we could pour wine all over him and he wouldn't even dare lick his lips.”

“Did it involved a lot of punishment?” Honor said.

“Not as much as you might think. More so at the beginning. But you'd be amazed at what you can do with small rewards and full environmental control.”

“So what happened then?”

“Finn helped us for a while and we turned the business profitable again. Turns out that other breeders had got a hold of some superior breeds from Ohzarish. Finn was able to purchase a few of those and after 5 or 6 years the business was very profitable again. Dad sold it and retired to the city. Finn went back to the army and took me with him. And now about 10 years later I'm here, on a mountain hill overlooking the valleys surrounding Mountain Path.”